Nael Davis

A monumental innovator, icon, and maverick, trumpeter Miles Davis helped define the course of jazz as well as popular culture in the 20th century, bridging the gap between bebop, modal music, funk, and fusion. Throughout most of his 50-year career, Davis played the trumpet in a lyrical, introspective style, often employing a stemless Harmon mute to make his sound more personal and intimate. It was a style that, along with his brooding stage persona, earned him the nickname "Prince of Darkness." However, Davis proved to be a dazzlingly protean artist, moving into fiery modal jazz in the '60s and electrified funk and fusion in the '70s, drenching his trumpet in wah-wah pedal effects along the way.

This great value 61-track 2-CD set comprises the A and B side of every single she released on RCA from her 1953 debut as part of The Davis Sisters and then as a solo artist through to the end of 1962, plus seven bonus tracks selected from her two solo albums from the period “I’ll Sing You A Song And Harmonise Too” and “Here’s The Answer”, the latter trading on her success with “answer” records like her debut solo hit “Lost To A Geisha Girl”, and the Top 5 hits “(I Can't Help You) I'm Falling Too”, and “My Last Date With You”.

This set features most of Davis' earliest albums for Columbia (some still recorded when he was with Prestige, but with their permission.) The sound quality is very good, and the albums selected for inclusion are nearly all essential in my opinion.